Travel chaos fuels attack on transport secretary Philip Hammond

People caught up in the snow chaos have been offered little advice in how to cope other than ‘get a shovel or stay at home’, said shadow chancellor
Alan Johnson, in a chilling attack on transport secretary
Philip Hammond.

Huge delay: A crashed tanker is lifted off the M25 yesterday (PA)

Many felt they had been left to get by on their own as ministers wash their hands of responsibility, said shadow chancellor Alan Johnson. He claimed salt supplies had not been delivered in time and were arriving in ‘dribs and drabs’.

He said: ‘It is a big issue when people believe the government has just left it for them and said, ‘‘Get a shovel or stay at home’’. Governing is about more than that when you hit a crisis.’

He said transport secretary Philip Hammond had serious questions to answer. Mr Hammond has asked scientists to report on whether there was a ‘step change’ in weather patterns and if more money needed to be made available during winter.

Foreign secretary William Hague said: ‘I think there was a heavy snowfall of political opportunism really in his (Johnson’s) comments.’

Meanwhile, thousands of drivers were stuck on the M25 for more than seven hours yesterday after a tanker carrying liquid petroleum gas crashed on the hard shoulder.